By  “Unknown Mami”–

I am raising my daughter to be bilingual. You would think that since I am bilingual it would be easy. Well, guess what? It’s not easy at all.

You see I am the only Spanish speaker in my home and I have not lived in a predominantly Spanish speaking home since I was 18 years old.

I was born in the United States and I am bilingual because I was raised in a home where Spanish was spoken. I did not have a choice. I truly mastered English when I started school.

Nowadays, my English is much stronger than my Spanish. I was educated in English, I no longer live around my Spanish-speaking family and although I can use my Spanish during some day to day transactions it is just not woven into the fabric of my life the way it once was.

In order to teach my daughter Spanish, I have to make an effort to speak to her only in Spanish. This is particularly challenging when non-Spanish speakers like her dad are around. Sometimes it feels like a monumental task, but I know it is well worth it.

Spanish has given me so much. It has allowed me to communicate with family members in Mexico that only speak Spanish.

It has provided me with jobs I would not have gotten otherwise. I want my daughter to have those same opportunities.

Since my Spanish has atrophied, I find reading books to my daughter in Spanish to be a really helpful tool especially when they use words that I might not otherwise say to her. I do not find it all that easy to find children’s books in Spanish at the store or at the library, though.

Recently, I was contacted Sherrie A. Madia, Ph.D. and asked if I would be interested in reviewing, “Alphabet Woof,” a book she created with her two daughters.

Honestly, I was going to say no, until I saw that the book was offered in Spanish as, “Sopa de Guau!”  Then I was all over it.

“Alphabet Woof,” the book, is delightful. The illustrations are colorful and fun and the story has a little magical realism a la, “Like Water for Chocolate” going on.

I enjoyed it, but more importantly my daughter likes it and she gets to have a little more Spanish in her life because of it.

Unknown Mami is  a bilingual Latina mother, wife,and actor in my late 30s who lives with her husband and daughter, “Put Pie,” in San Francisco.  She has her own blog entitled “Unknown Mami.”